1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vending machine capable of preventing a heat loss therein and dew created by a temperature difference between a food freezing chamber and a food heating chamber.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, as known from Japan Pat. No. 3-104287, there are shown a cabinet 10, a food freezing chamber 20 for freezing and storing foods therein, a food heating apparatus 40 for heating foods from the food freezing chamber 20, and a food heating chamber 30 including a food discharging port 70 for discharging heated foods provided below the food heating apparatus 40.
The food freezing chamber 20 provided at an upper portion inside the cabinet 10 usually keeps the temperature of -18.degree. C..about.-20.degree. C. A plurality of food storage boxes 21 is provided in an upper portion of the cabinet 10. A chute 22 is provided at a lower portion of the food storage boxes 21. In an operation, the selected foods come down to the food heating apparatus provided under the chute 22.
The food in the food heating apparatus 40 is heated to a desired temperature by a magnetron heating device(not described in the drawing) provided therein. As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, when the food falls down from the food freezing chamber 20, the upper shutter 41 opens due to a horizontal movement of a lower opening 8 of the food heating apparatus 40. When the food is loaded therein the upper shutter 4 is closed. The loaded food is heated for 1 minute by the magnetron heating apparatus. When the heating is completed, the lower shutter 42 opens due to a slidable movement of the lower shutter 42, so that the food is discharged via a food discharging port 70.
However, the conventional vending machine as shown in FIG. 3 has some problems in that the cooled air is discharged to the outside since the lower opening 8 of the shutter 22 is spaced from the upper shutter 41. In addition, the upper shutter 41 for only performing the slidable opening operation is provided on the upper portion of the food heating apparatus 40. In this case the slidable opening operation of the upper shutter 41 means when the food falls down from the food freezing chamber 20, it opens and when heating the fallen food, it closes. After heating the food in the food heating apparatus 40, the heat in the food heating apparatus 40 is transferred to the food freezing chamber 20 so that the heat loss takes place in the vending machine and thus the food in the food freezing chamber is melted and becomes rotten due to the increasing temperature therein.